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Justinian, like many others of his time, grew up on the stories of Rome's former greatness, how she had been the master of the known world and had ruled many territories and peoples. By the time Justinian achieved the purple, only half of the classical Roman Empire remained, and it no longer even controlled it's namesake city, Rome. This was considered disgraceful by many in the empire, and was completely unacceptable to Justinian. A very ambitious man, he dreamed of reconquering the Western territories lost to the migrating barbarians in the last century, and so he sent out his armies and best generals to do just that. It wasn't until the end of the Gothic War in 552 AD that the Roman Empire finally was in control of Rome, by then a depopulated and rundown city, which had, along with the rest of Italia, suffered greatly during the war. This decanummium of Justinian was struck in the imperial city itself. From looking at the chronology of events of this time, this was made either anytime from the early 540s to around 550 AD ( when the Ostrogoths briefly retook the city), or in the years following the end of the Gothic War until Justinian's death in 565 AD. It very much resembles my Baduila (Totila) decanummium (minted 550-552 AD) in size and style (also in chunkiness), and so if it was struck after the war it probably would have been made not too long afterwards, perhaps even as early as within a couple of years after. I don't know for certain but I'm pretty sure I have the general time ranges of minting down though. Its definitely in better shape than a lot of the smaller denominations from this period are. The best part is the portrait, no doubt about it IMO. It happens to be the highest spot on the whole coin, too, so I thought that was really fortunate. I waited almost a month and a half for it, but seeing it in hand, I now think it was definitely worth the wait.
Justinian I, Byzantine emperor (527-565 AD) AE Decanummium Obv: DN IVSTINIANVS P AVG, helmeted, cuirassed bust facing, holding cross on globe in left hand and shield in right hand Rev: Large I, star in left and right fields, all within wreath Rome mint Ref: SB 308, MIB 228   Edited by VisigothKing
03/04/2014 5:42 pm
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Very nice find. It's too bad this type doesn't have a regnal year on the coin.
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I have one of those! Although its from Ravenna and smaller in size: (Year 37)  |
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Fascinating history behind that one. Very cool.
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I haven't been lucky enough to come across any of this type in such a nice condition. Ravenna mint coins are also difficult to find. Most of the stuff I seem to find are from Constantinople or Thessalonica.
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Quote:
I haven't been lucky enough to come across any of this type in such a nice condition. Ravenna mint coins are also difficult to find. Oh yeah, no doubt about it. Rome and Ravenna are two of the rarer Byzantine mints, perhaps in part due to Italy being mostly a rural backwater at the time, where I'd imagine barter would have been more popular, lessening the need for coinage. |
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Anyone else have any decanummi of Justinian, from any of the Byzantine mints, that they'd like to share? I pretty sure some of you out there collect Byzantines that might have one or two.  |
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Very interesting history behind this coin, a good read.
Love the kind of 'Western' style to the forward facing bust. Interesting to see a Western mint produce a very Eastern looking coin. Would Rome have only been producing profile busts up to this point?
I'm assuming so, must have been quite a change for the celators. I have nothing from around this time unfortunately. I also had no idea these coins even existed, the ancient hobby is incredible in size, will new things like this still be 'coming out of left field' when I have 30 years experience and not just 10?
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During the early Byzantine period the side face bust where still in vogue. It pretty must ended with Justin I. While not the first emperor to use the forward facing bust Justinian I pretty much made it the standard from his reign on.
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Thats true. I recall.seeing a Licinius Jr gold depicting him forward-facing. Then later on you have Arcadius, Honorius, and Theo II using that profile. They were partially successful; they made that pose the standard for the gold solidi.
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I've already said I like this coin...but i'll say it again...i like this coin.
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Thanks Chrsmat. Quote:
Interesting to see a Western mint produce a very Eastern looking coin. Would Rome have only been producing profile busts up to this point? As far as I recall yes. Can't remember at the moment if Rome struck solidii, but if it did, those coins would most likely have been the only ones with the forward-facing bust. Quote:
Love the kind of 'Western' style to the forward facing bust. As a matter of fact, I do believe Justinian on my coin is depicted wearing some sort of modified spangenhelm helmet (the main helmet of Germanic warriors of this time). Perhaps the die engravers were used to engraving Ostrogothic features and only had a vague idea on how Justinian's normal forward facing bust looked, so they might have just quickly edited dies of Baduila forward-facing coins to make them into Justinian. This would have had to have been right after the final Byzantine victory in the Gothic War, before proper dies would have been made. Something that could be seen as supporting this is the difference between my Justinian of Rome and Ravenna that I posted in this thread. The Ravenna issue was struck a decade after the end of the war, and Justinian is depicted wearing a helmet that is basically the same in design as the other imperial mints farther east, such as Constantinople. The helmet from Rome looks very different in style and resembles more those on coins of Baduila. Edited by VisigothKing
03/08/2014 4:13 pm
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Edited by VisigothKing
03/08/2014 4:04 pm
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It may not help much for comparing, but I'll post my Baduila anyways:  |
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Sear doesn't say what type of helmet it is, so your assumption may be correct based on the time period and war at the time. Your coins of Badulia are the first I've seen of this type. They have to be scarce and difficult to find especially in this nice of condition.
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Replies: 17 / Views: 3,759 |
Posted 03/04/2014 6:10 pm
